2004 Jaguar Xj8--popular Color..extra Clean on 2040-cars

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Our 2018 Jaguar F-Pace has an infuriating shifter

Let me preface this by saying that I quite enjoy our long-term 2018 Jaguar F-Pace. Its quick, handsome and pretty good on a road trip. It handles well for a crossover, too. My biggest gripe with the F-Pace is the interior, and my biggest gripe with the interior is the damned rotary shifter. I've never fought a vehicle so much just to get it to shift into reverse and neutral. I have a tendency to rant, but usually offline, in the company of friends and under the influence of a few drinks. I've spent a lot of time behind the wheel of the F-Pace, and an incident this week in an automatic car wash this week prompted this post. Simply put, it took probably 10 seconds for me to get it to shift into neutral and another 10 seconds to get it back into drive. This is annoying in any situation, but when you're holding up a line of cars trying to wash off a thick layer of salt and ice, it's infuriating. The rotary shifter simply wouldn't rotate into either drive or reverse. This might be user error and it might be exclusive to our particular F-Pace, but I don't recall have the same issue in our XE (I admittedly drove it less) and I definitely have never had such problems with other shifters. Not even the BMW-style fixed rocker type or weird handle ones in the Toyota Prius. I even consulted the owner's manual to make sure I'm doing it properly. The only thing I can think of is that I'm not putting enough pressure on the brake pedal while turning the dial. Yet, even those editors who haven't experienced this problem admit that the design has lost its way. Jaguar introduced the rotary shifter in the original XF back in 2009. At the time, its housing was compact and offset, serving the functional purpose of freeing up space for center console storage (as you can see in the photo above). The same concept was later applied to the Jaguar XJ and copied in the Ram 1500. Now, compare that design to the shifter in the F-Pace (as well as the XE and current XF). It's right in the center with a bezel that takes up as much room as the shift boot on a manual transmission. There's no added storage benefit and the surrounding piano black trim collects dust and fingerprints like a forensics squad. In other words, instead of a space efficiency solution, it's a space-robbing novelty that drives me nuts at the car wash. Related Video: Image Credit: Jeremy Korzeniewski, Jaguar Design/Style Jaguar Long-Term Garage Crossover SUV Luxury Performance jaguar f-pace jaguar f-pace s

Jaguar considers BMW X1 fighter

It's no secret that the sub-compact crossover is the next big thing in the auto industry. From the Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V, and Jeep Renegade to the Mercedes-Benz GLA, Audi Q3, and BMW X1, automakers the world over are pushing hard to get a piece of this brand-new pie. Autocar is reporting that Jaguar could soon join the ranks of them. While the manufacturer is hard at work on the new F-Pace, this new CUV would slot in below and could even be priced under the new entry level XE sedan. "A family [of CUVs] is not confirmed but we are investigating it," Steven de Ploey, Jaguar's brand director, told Autocar. "If we want to grow, a compact model is the obvious opportunity. The arguments about this are twofold. It has to be a Jaguar in design and performance, and it would be a challenge to do this. The second is the business, both in terms of scale and competition." While the brand may be toying around with the idea of a compact CUV, de Ploey points out that there are a number of issues preventing a vehicle below the F-Pace. "You'd not just be competing with premium brands but high-end mainstream manufacturers, too. There are lots of other things we have to do before this, but we have opportunities and permission to play there," de Ploey said. "There is also a cost challenge. We'd need a different architecture. What we have is scalable, but that low? You'd really have to investigate taking it down. You need to tick the box with the business case." Related Video:

Jaguar to build 25 D-type racing cars to finish off 1956 production run

It's good to pick up where you left off, even if it's been more than 60 years. In 1956, Jaguar planned to built 100 D-type racing cars, but only 75 were completed. The missing 25 cars will now be built at Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in Warwickshire, England, and they will all be built according to the original, authentic specifications. Customers can choose between 1955-style "Shortnose" cars and 1956-style "Longnose" versions; the prototype is of the latter specification. All of them will have the original six-cylinder XK engine, and they will come with a lot of Le Mans heritage, as D-types won the famous 24 hour race in 1955, 1956 and 1957. During their competition years, D-types were driven by such motorsport legends as Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss and John Fitch. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The newly built D-types will be the third continuation models from Jaguar's classic works. Earlier, they announced they were building nine XKSS cars to finish off a production run that was cut short by a 1957 fire, and in 2015 the division built six Lightweight E-Types. The XKSS itself was strongly related to the D-type, as originally it was based on unfinished D-types sitting around in the workshop after Jaguar temporarily retired from racing. As Jaguar Classic's Engineering Manager Kev Riches says of the continuation cars: "Each one will be absolutely correct, down to the very last detail, just as Jaguar's Competitions Department intended." No pricing details have yet been announced, but they will surely follow the D-type's official debut at the Retromobile classic car show in Paris this week. Related Video: